


Reaching Out, Touching You

by rydellon



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Collaboration, Fluff, M/M, Mermaids, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-18
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2020-05-13 23:29:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19261345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rydellon/pseuds/rydellon
Summary: Minseok is a siren hunter and Baekhyun is a mermaid.Baekhyun’s best friend Kyungsoo, a siren, is missing.





	Reaching Out, Touching You

**Author's Note:**

> moorauders sent me this (first half up to the line break is theirs) and i was pissed as fuck and had to write a happy ending
> 
> so first half up to the line break is theirs. after the line break (there’s also a repeated line) is mine (rydellon’s)
> 
> hope you enjoy!!

"I'm gonna murder you." Minseok says, trying to squeeze out the water from his shirt. It's his fault for hanging out with Baekhyun again today, that damned mermaid always wanting to play.

 

"You had the chance to months ago, if you wanted to do it, you would've done it then." Baekhyun scoots a little higher on the rock, watching the swaying of Minseok's tiny boat rock back and forth. It was kind of calming to watch it, the same way he finds it calming to watch the trees in the breeze.

 

"No, you know I wouldn't have." Minseok leans a little further on the railing, not very careful at all for the rocks beneath him. He was far from shore, so the chance of anyone finding them here was slim to none. "I hunt sirens, remember? You're not one of them."

 

Baekhyun's smile fades as quickly as it appeared. He hates what Minseok does - his best friend is a siren, and the only reason he even met Minseok was to distract him so the other can get away. He hasn't seen Kyungsoo since, but he really hopes that nothing happened to him.

 

"What's wrong?" Minseok says, eyebrows furrowed in worry.

 

Baekhyun doesn't want to pressure Minseok into anything, so he just smiles and shakes his head.

"Nothing, I was just thinking."

 

"About what?"

 

"Sirens."

 

Minseok frowns at this. He knows that Baekhyun hates even the thought of Minseok hurting sea creatures - Sirens are living, after all. A tragedy that lures sailors such as Minseok to their graves, but he made sure that Minseok knew none of the sirens would ever come after him. Baekhyun warned them that he would hurt them and throw them onto shore if they dare touch him.

 

"I need to talk to you about that."

 

Baekhyun watches Minseok hop off the ladder and onto the huge rock with him, facing the other.

 

"I found your friend."

 

"Kyungsoo? Where is he?"

 

Minseok opens and closes his mouth a couple times before letting out the quietest of whispers.

 

"Dead."

 

Baekhyun feels like someone stabbed him directly into his heart. Minseok did it, didn't he? The others warned him, 'don't be friends with the hunter, you don't know what they're going to do to you.' but he liked Minseok, loved him even.

 

"Did you-"

 

Minseok doesn't want to see Baekhyun cry like this. He reaches out to touch his shoulder but Baekhyun shudders.

 

"Don't touch me."

 

* * *

 

“Don’t touch me.”

 

Baekhyun, with one smooth flip of his tail, moved meters away from Minseok, the stunned hunter still leaving his hand hovering over the side of the boat, right where Baekhyun’s shoulder had been seconds before.

 

“Don’t touch me!” Baekhyun reiterates, “don’t—don’t look at me don’t speak to me don’t come looking for me ever again Minseok! How could you—how could you fucking do this I—“ He trailed off, tears clouding his vision.

 

“Baekhyun—“

 

“No! I trusted you and you go and do this? I like you—love you! And you go and betray my trust like this! Why? No, I don’t want to know. I’m leaving. You’ll never see me again and I hope that the—“

 

“Baekhyun I didn’t kill Kyungsoo!” Minseok rushes out, all in one shot.

 

Baekhyun freezes.

 

“What?”

 

“I didn’t kill Kyungsoo.”

 

“Explain, now.”

 

Baekhyun swims closer. Close enough that he can hear Minseok better, but far enough away that Minseok can’t touch him.

 

“Another hunter had him. I tried...My ship was smaller than his so I snuck close and tried to cut the net, but Kyungsoo started flailing when I got close and they pulled him up faster. He’s dead Baekhyun. I’m sorry. I know how much he meant to you. I tried.”

 

Baekhyun swam back to the rock he was perched on before and Minseok reached out cautiously, the merman looking over and flipping into his arms, making the small dingy Minseok (and now Baekhyun) was in sway cautiously on the waves.

 

Sobs wracked Baekhyun’s body, and honestly Minseok didn’t mind getting wet like this, with Baekhyun in his arms.

 

He sat with the merman for maybe an hour, maybe a half an hour, he didn’t know. Eventually Baekhyun stopped crying and started telling him anecdotes about Kyungsoo, things they had done for fun, a time Kyungsoo had lured a group of sailors that had thrown a woman overboard in chains into a group of rocks.

 

Eventually he stopped, sighing, and that gave Minseok an in.

 

“So, what you said about loving me earlier—“

 

Baekhyun flushed and jerked his body, hopping out of the boat and back into the water, making it rock dangerously. Minseok put his hands on the sides to steady it.

 

“Aha...what? Gotta go...harvest stuff, see you tomorrow!” Baekhyun called, racing off with a splash and sending more waves onto Minseok’s boat.

 

Minseok smiled and touched the water gingerly. “I like you too idiot.”

 

(The next day it was announced that the crew on the boat that had killed Kyungsoo was found dead the next morning, bodies and boat parts washed up on the rocky side of a nearby island. Minseok smirked. Maybe sometimes sirens did have a point in killing humans.)

**Author's Note:**

> this was kind of moorauder’s payback for me writing my fic from earlier today [**On You I Call**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19255546) so go read that if you like markhyuck and getting your heart ripped out. 
> 
> also check out moorauder’s fic [**Engraved**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16755925) because it’s amazing and def worth the read. 
> 
> or you can check out our other pair works [**What Can I Do**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17522564/chapters/41281451) and [**The Road To Ruin**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18621208)
> 
> thanks again!!


End file.
